INFERNO

CHAPTER ONE: A FLAME FROM THE PAST

Looking around, she grabbed a fallen branch and stalked little by little closer to the alley, just in case something or someone in there had the wrong idea. She stood at the entrance; someone was in there. From the looks of it, this person seems to be a lady, a bloody grime-covered lady in her birthday suit. She clutched her stomach and kept gasping like she was in pain. A quick look around told Tamarys no one else was in the alley. She gathered some courage and took a cautious step closer to the lady, afraid she was fatally wounded and in need of urgent medical attention, but she did not want to get so close she becomes the lady's victim if it was all a façade.

"Um…are you okay?" she asked the tiny naked figure. Upon hearing her voice, she finally moved, raising her head.

Tamarys gasped.

Tamarys had been walking home from the restaurant where she worked part-time as a cleaner to help out her family when she heard a sound coming from a side street right across the route she usually takes home. Usually, she wouldn't dare to go investigating unusual sounds so close to curfew, but the person or unfortunate creature in that alley had moan so pitifully. Not having much strength or any training on self-defense, she wasn't sure she could do much, but she had to help. And so she quickly grabbed a fallen branch that just happened to be lying by the pavement and crept slowly toward the alley to lend a hand. Who would have thought she would meet such a bizarre sight?

Apart from the lady being unclad, her face is what had grabbed Tamarys' attention. I mean, what are the chances of meeting someone who looks like your evil twin in the middle of nowhere on a cold autumn evening? This person looks the same as Tamarys, had all her facial and bodily features save for her pretty green eyes. Her pupils were blood red, and she was extremely pale.

What the heck is going on here?

Tamarys clutched tighter to the branch in her hand and inadvertently took some 'major' steps back. She had come to save not to become the victim.

"W…who are you?" she asked.

The crouching figure straightened up, stared quizzically at Tamarys before smiling at her like she just found a missing link to all her unanswered questions. she now showed no signs of being in pain. Her entire being glowing so-much you wouldn't even notice the dirt on her body now. She looked ethereal.

"I said. Who. Are. You?"

"Same question you ask each time you call." The lady replied the captivating smile did not leave her face.

What?!

What does she mean by 'each time I call' when have I ever called this person? How did she even manage to summon me if I am the one calling?

And she talks funny too, who speaks like that in this era.

"Call you, what reason do I have to do that?"

"Hahaha…" the other Tamarys chuckled " Again, you seek clarity without wanting it."

What's so funny?

"Who are you?"

"I am you." she said, "your pains are mine, mine is yours." While she spoke, her voice began to echo.

Instantly, Tamarys felt pain like she never felt before. Agony shot straight from her soul, and she was overwhelmed with it. She was in a lot of pain. Pain like she was being burnt alive by some flame from the depth of hell. She had heard somewhere that being burnt alive is one of the worst ways to die, and this feels like it. Tamarys could do nothing but fall on her knees and coil into a ball on the dirty floor. She wrapped her arms tightly around her body like she was afraid her body was going to fall apart if she didn't.

"Stop, Please make it stop!" She screamed in agony.

The naked lady took two steps toward Tamarys, gently knelt beside her, stretched forth her hand, and caressed her cheek lovingly. Then she stared into her eyes with those dangerous-looking eyes. Her aura had changed. The once ethereal being now seemed cold and ruthless.

"Pour libations to the living and the dead you must. Pay obeisance to the souls of the departed, then peace, shall I grant."

'What now?'

"I don't understand." With the pain coursing through her body, Tamarys could gasp only a few words. The lady stared down at her awhile then looked away. She stood once more and took some steps away from her, her back toward Tamarys, then she burst into flames. Every part of her was literally in flames. Her red hair that looks the same as Tamarys' now seemed like it was fire itself. From where Tamarys lay, she could only manage a glimpse of this 'fiery' lady. The whole alley was alight, but the most unusual thing is that the lady, who had somehow managed to set herself afire, wasn't burning. She wasn't even in distress from the heat. She just seemed comfortable. She even stretched her neck side to side to prove it.

Once again, she turns towards Tamarys, who was beginning to sit up, obviously not in so much pain anymore. The fiery lady pointed towards the exit.

"The time is imminent, warrior, you must prepare."

'Warrior?'

First, she said we are the same person, what's up with ‘Warrior’ now?

"Can you be a li…hmm…hmm little bit clear?" She cleared her throat, an arm still clutching her belly the other wiping down her body. Please, I beg you, please, do not speak in riddles anymore. My brain must be in knots right now trying-to decipher your words.

"What do I need to prepare for?"

The fiery lady stared intensely at Tamarys. Fire burning in the depth of her eyes.

"…The end." She replied.

What end? Tamarys asked herself.

"What end?" she asked the lady who kept looking at her. They stared at each other for a while, and then the lady demanded harshly.

Set me free!!! Instantly, she vanished.

But the echo of her demand resounded in Tamarys' mind.

Set me free!

Set me free!!

Set me free!!!

"Stop!"

Tamarys screamed at the voice in her head. She ran toward the street where she met another weird sight and stopped abruptly.

A crowd of people was out in the streets. Thousands upon thousands of people with their heads bowed low as if they are lost in thought. All of them either dressed in rags or various states of undress. Once Tamarys ran into the streets, they all focused on her. And then she screamed again. Every one of the people in the street was dead. Mouth full of jagged teeth, milky white eyes, face covered in blood and grime. A rotten veiny mass with some tufts of hair remained of what was otherwise a human head. Some even had no nose and had the body parts of the unfortunate humans they had previously eaten hanging off of them. They looked gruesome.

Tamarys changed course and ran towards safety while screaming at the top of her lungs. The humanoid things gave chase releasing weird grunts from their horrific faces.

“What the f**k is this place!” She cried

"Set me free!" Screamed the fiery lady's voice in her mind.

“How do I make it stop?” She asked herself.

Stop? Stop what exactly?

Hang the f**k on!

This isn't real! Right from the lady in the alley to the ongoing terrifying situation, everything seemed surreal. Tamarys doesn't work at a diner. This place is nothing like the place she's lived in all her life. She hadn't even seen a real skyscraper before, and the vehicles packed haphazardly on the streets, some still smoking, some utterly burnt, looked foreign to her. The remains of some victims could still be seen from the windows and doors of some vehicles. Some were lying in the street.

I must be dreaming, otherwise don't tell me I transmigrated to another plane. Tamarys thought to herself as she ran for dear life.

That's impossible, right? She was out here just now, and nothing like this was going on. It had only started after the lady said something about the end.

The zombies chasing her and all, this feels like an apocalypse.

Wait! ‘‘The end?’

Was this what that fiery lady meant?

The end of the world...?

As Tamarys ran, some of the creatures behind her sped up and caught up with her. Some of them had become faster than the rest. It seems these zombies evolve too. Faced with a dead end and out of breath, she turned back out of fright as they drew nearer, arms stretched forth to grab at her. She wanted to defend herself with a weapon, but alas, she had dropped her branch back in the alley, and the zombies were close. They grunted and screeched after her for food. They wanted her blood, flesh, and everything she possessed. The zombies were once human, but those eerie-looking faces were the most-terrifying thing she had ever seen in her life. Just as an arm grabbed her, Tamarys screamed...